Paraguay’s Congress was expected to swear in Vice President Pedro Alliana as president on Thursday after President Santiago Peña resigned amid a banking crisis. (Foto: Instagram)
Paraguay’s Congress was expected to swear in Vice President Pedro Alliana as the country’s new head of state at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, following President Santiago Peña’s resignation. House Speaker Raúl Latorre announced the planned ceremony. Lawmakers were expected to choose a new vice president at 7 p.m., after Alliana’s swearing-in.
Earlier Thursday, the Chamber of Deputies rejected an impeachment petition against Alliana, who had also faced an effort to remove him from office. The decision cleared the way for him to take over the executive branch after Peña’s departure.
Peña resigned amid a political and banking crisis involving Banco Ueno. The conservative president was facing an impeachment process backed by the opposition and some members of his own governing coalition, leaving him politically isolated. He had been accused of being complicit in alleged irregularities involving the financial institution, which is controlled by a group in which he had previously been a shareholder.
The crisis escalated after the Central Bank of Paraguay intervened in Banco Ueno on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and suspended its operations. In a video released Thursday, Peña apologized to Paraguayans who had lost access to their money and said he had decided to resign to preserve national stability. “I am convinced that no position can be more important than Paraguay’s well-being. I also want to apologize to the people. If I failed at any point, it was never my intention to disappoint the trust you placed in me,” he said.
The central bank intervened after finding that Banco Ueno’s solvency ratio was below the required minimum of 50%. The measure left nearly 3 million customers unable to access banking services in a country of about 6.1 million people. The disruption led to long lines at branches, concern among account holders and street protests. More than half of Paraguay’s adult population uses the bank, which holds about $850 million in public deposits, including funds belonging to the Social Security Institute.
The Central Bank said the situation was an isolated case and did not point to widespread problems in Paraguay’s financial system. It also said protecting depositors was a priority. The crisis also reached the regulator’s leadership: Central Bank President Carlos Carvallo resigned on the same day as the intervention. Before leading the central bank, Carvallo had headed Financiera Ueno, the company from which the bank originated.
